Initiatives are the next step in Strategic Visionary Planning, and should be started after you define your vision. When you authored your vision and bridge numbers, I bet many of you were asking how all of your vision is possible. Writing your vision is a special place where obstacles don’t exist. Now the vision needs initiative to spark them into reality. Vision comes first, initiatives wait. This separates the genius from the worker bee. Initiatives are the creative preparations or productions that are designed to create identifiable percentages of the vision. The more focused initiatives are the better your army, and the bigger chance it has to produce 100% of the vision. One initiative might produce 7% of the vision. Another might produce 15%. Each initiative should have a responsibility to its fractional relativity to the vision. The point is that you have to create initiatives with a definable result in order to produce the complete vision. Initiatives without identifiable results in a specified timeline are rabbit trails, which we will discuss more as we move along the pathway.
Every stage of the visionary process starts with a definable intention. Initiatives must do the same. Your initiative might be to have a conference call. You can have conference calls every day. What is the result of having that conference call? Is it to get 50 more users to a product, increase your client base by 5%, or build a business relationship that you intend to bring to another stage? Whatever the case, you want to identify the definable intentions before the call. The call is the initiative, but it still has to go through the visionary process. The more specific you are the better. At the end of the call you have to ask yourself (and your teammates) if the call produced the results that you defined.
Initiatives are the activity. There should be lots of verbs when you do your initiatives, but it doesn’t escape the fact that it has to be tied to a result. Remember, activity does not win the day. Activity helps the day. Results win the day. Many armies have been very busy and very active and yet, they have lost the war. Directing activities towards results will greatly increase the ability to obtain those results.
For example: Your vision is to generate 10,000 new clients by 2020. You can start with 20 initiatives, which average 500 new clients each. That’s visionary. You don’t need to know what the initiatives are at first.
Pick a number of initiatives that is higher than what you think you can come up with. I usually use 80 because it pushes me to get creative and think of innovated ways and seek ideas from other people. You don’t have to define the initiatives to start. You simply have to identify the number of initiatives and the result they will produce. Later, this will become a valuable nucleus to attract powerful energy and resources. Initiatives are laid out much like bridge numbers, though they do not correspond with bridge numbers directly. However, the results should be based on and equal to your bridge numbers for each year. If your bridge number for the first year is to get 400 new clients then create your initiatives to reach that bench mark. Here is a breakdown using the example of getting 10,000 new clients with 20 initiatives.
Each year you are increasing the amount of initiatives and therefore yielding an increased result.
Intuitively we start with the idea of just one initiative, but what happens is the false hope that the one initiative is the be all end all. It never happens that way. One sure thing about initiatives that you must realize is that initiatives have to evolve. An initiative that is successful now may not be as efficient later. Whether it is outdated or tired, its longevity as originally designed is limited. When a child goes to school it is with the intention to graduate with an education after 12 years. When the child is in school does he just do one activity, take just one class? No, the child does many activities that create a well-rounded education, which expands and improves over time. Initiatives are the same. The level and performance of initiatives rise as they mature. This is a compounding, fun process which separates the distance between your greatness and commonality.
Most people don’t have enough initiatives. They have over-exaggerated confidence in one initiative. They reach the contentment level of the process too early, and consequently they reach a false peak. Initiatives inspire growth on a perpetual basis. You can tell by the visionary footprints of expansion and acceleration, meaning that your initiatives are constantly reaching out farther at an accelerated pace and dominance because you are perfecting their growth.
Here are the five points of initiatives
1.Create new initiatives
2.Measure the initiative to the intended result
3.Discard initiatives that are not working
4.Improve initiatives that are working
5.Repeat the process
You will find that your initiatives are not necessarily unique to start. The difference is you are applying the defined result ahead of time, and stirring your creativity as defined by the five points. Designing initiatives is another process that you can share and receive input. You have to be careful not to get stuck in the trap of just one initiative. You have to constantly improve, discard and invent initiatives in order to keep the pipelines going. Initiatives are meant to expand. It is okay to start with small initiatives. Think of a tree that starts out as six inches tall. Eventually it will be 50 feet tall. Do you chop it down because it is six inches tall? No, because it is at the beginning stage. If you are going to keep it that small then it’s not really a tree. If you confine your tree it’s not going to grow. You have to continually give it light from everywhere, which means others input and partial ownership. The key is to keep the tree growing. By letting your initiatives branch out in girth and strength you will get the results you need to succeed.
Winning is fun. It’s a party! Hitting visionary results is a recognizable achievement that will help so many. You will make yourself a unique commodity in your community or industry. If your initiative is to hold a cocktail party to sell 100 units and get 20 referrals that will make appointments in the next 30 days that is a defined intention for that cocktail party. When you go on to your next initiative, for example, a luncheon and then a movie event, by the time your competition tries to replicate your initial initiative, you’re already doing the sixth or seventh initiative. Secondly, while they are doing phase one for the first time, you have done that initiative five or six times. You have already mastered the initiative to a higher degree. So if I go to their cocktail party versus your cocktail party I’m going to say, “This is far below par of what I am used to.” Your competition is not designing initiatives based on definable results and your evolved efforts will get the lion’s share.
This can be extremely fun in addition to being beneficial. To start, define the number of initiatives you want to invent. This creates the expansion of your mind, and the ability to capture ideas that exist and the ingredients to create new ideas. Invite people to give you ideas: employ, delegate, and ask for help. Talk to people who are doing or have done the general concepts of your vision. There are hundreds of people locally and nationally who have succeeded in growing their business, building a connection chain, and increasing their profits. Though their businesses may be different, the processes they have used for success may be very enlightening. You may not think so, but these successful people are very willing to share. Just ask! You have access to these winners, and it will give you pages of new ideas and new connections. I am certain there are hundreds that would be willing to talk to you. It’s also good to get input from the people who are going to receive your product or service. Talk to clients or customers and ask them what they look for in a product or service. It’s good to have their perspective to formulate new ideas. The interesting part is that you will have more ideas in a shorter period of time than you could have come up with by yourself.
Initiatives have to be persistently perpetuated. Once you stop creating and improving initiatives, you significantly slow your vision. You fall back to the others that you were surpassing. Many companies become complacent because they become successful. They stop improving and adding initiatives. Some companies change too much, and they forget some of the basics that got them to where they are today. You have to find the balance, and it always has to be reviewed. The flow of success starts with one initiative. Pretty soon you will have two initiatives, three, and then four. They can all be terrible, but if you are improving some, discarding some and adding new ones then you are on the right course that will lead you to success.
Here is proof. Can you make a hamburger? Yes. If so, can you sell billions like McDonalds? McDonalds started out as a local business in California in the 1930s, and is now the biggest fast-food hamburger chain in the world. Why? They are constantly improving a simple concept. They expanded into other fast food products; French fries, milkshakes, coffee, McThis, and McThat. It is the process that won, not the product. Execution has to be delivered, but improvements have to be constantly pursued. Many times, it is the process of taking an old idea to a new level. McDonalds’ idea is to feed people quickly and efficiently. That’s an old idea. Think of all the ways McDonalds improved: having a drive-thru, breakfast service, later hours, and faster service. The idea didn’t change, but the process improved. Most of the inventing is in the process, not the final product. It’s the perception and delivery that makes the world-class difference.
Eventually in this process, you come up with the right combination. Keep in mind that even the right combination can get stagnate down the road. So continue with the five points of initiatives. The question is where are you content? Do you want a little drip, double drip or do you want the flow? If you want that flow to get to your vision more efficiently then you have to be consistent. There is no limit to what you can do if you strive to find what works.
You already have initiatives with definable intentions and timelines. To understand efficiency you have to determine if these initiatives have delivered the predetermined results in the scheduled timeline. If it didn’t occur, you have to toss it away. Eliminating a non-productive initiative early is efficient. How do you know when to eliminate an initiative? You measure your results against your visionary timeline. If that initiative does not yield those results then it certainly is not efficient. You need to decide if it can be improved or discarded. Make the decision quickly and move forward from there. It is that simple. Many people wait months or years and spend thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars on activities and initiatives that are a huge distraction. When you do away with time losers, you are doing a positive and proficient thing. Of course, if it is efficient and generates 50%, 70% or even 100% of your definable intention you still need to be attentive to the process by improving its efficiency to avoid slowing down the acceleration and expansion of your vision.
The entire visionary process is constantly being used. Having a visionary template is efficient. Sharing it in a finite fashion, improving, and integrating all the points that we have discussed is efficient. Efficient, productive, improvement seeking visionaries leave their competition behind while developing a very recognizable entity.
You win the day by producing efficient results from a series of initiatives that accomplish your visionary intentions.
Is there a rule of thumb to decide if an initiative should be discarded or just needs improvement?
You decide. Yes, you have to give new initiatives time. Older initiatives should meet a certain criteria, but they are always under constant editing and measurement. When a network has to decide whether or not to dump a TV show or put a new one in its place, they look at the numbers. If, in a few months, it’s not great then you should change it, and if it’s getting better then you keep the initiative and continue improving.
Remember, adding and improving initiatives is the key to meeting your visionary timeline. You will find that as you fine-tune initiatives you can begin to delegate. Initiatives should always go to, what I call, the delegation of initiatives, meaning you are able to replicate massive results, get extra quantities, higher levels of credibility, and you don’t have to be the one doing it. There can be other people, groups or teams, clusters of energy working on your behalf. Now how efficient is that? Remember that vision expands and accelerates. Ultimately, mastering this process leads to the final stage in visionary planning which is to replace yourself. Soon you will have other people creating, improving, and discarding initiatives and you are elevated to a higher level.
The D.A.D. principle is an extension of the visionary template like bridge numbers and initiatives. The acronym stands for Definable Intention, Accountability, and Due Dates. Every initiative that you create needs D.A.D. Often like a Dad, D.A.D. keeps you and the initiative on track. Let’s say you start a new marketing initiative that involves direct mailing. Now you apply the D.A.D. principle. Do you just want to send out a mailing or do you want a result from the mailing? First, of course, is to define your intention. What is the intention for the mailing? Is it to increase sales by 40%? Get 10 new clients? Sell 1,000 more units? Once you know what the intention is you have to name who is accountable for the result. Is it you, someone on your team, or the team itself? Who needs to follow through on the initiative and gather the results? Accountability also means who is in charge of improving, or discarding that initiative. List the names of those accountable. When you define what it is you want, and who is handling it you need to have a due date. What date do you want to complete your intended results? Is your due date in one month, six months, or two years? If you follow the D.A.D. principle you will surely keep your initiatives on track.
Create Mailing
Definable Intention
Mail 500 post cards
Get 10 new appointments Gain 5 new clients
Accountability
Mailing–Betty Assistant
Appointments–Bill Associate
Gain Clients–Brenda Associate
Due Date
Mailing–June 1st
Appointments–July 1st
Gain Clients–August 1st
Sharing and connecting others to your vision is one of the most important aspects of SVP. Whether it is an employee, a friend, a resource, or what is called a starter, when their spirit gets involved they become and remain attached. A prominent way to do that is by sharing the vision and letting them have voice and power. Continue to share data with them. One of the best ways to do this is to set up a committee or panel to illuminate their value, which creates further adhesion of their energy to your vision. We started numerous committees and have received brilliant ideas from those players. Some of them are not paid, but in all cases their voice and contributions are being recognized connecting them to a psychological gravitational pull.
Every person is, in some form, an energy force for your vision. Sharing and asking for input regularly is an easy starting point. Most often every one of these sources contains more power than you can imagine. Inspiring this energy requires repetitive action. Approach them with positive feelings, and show accrued results. Thank them for their participation in the vision, acknowledge their contributions, and allow them to lead you to other energy sources. It’s always positive when your vision is integrated into their energy field.
List the people you know or know of that can contribute to your vision. Whether they contribute ideas, capital, access to more resources, knowledge or just encouragement, you can illuminate and connect them while expanding and accelerating the visionary process.
When I was young, my teacher gave us a project in math class. The project was to take a 5x6 checkerboard, which had 30 spots, and double the number of every box. I started with box one and doubled the number so that box two was two, box three was four, box four was eight, and by the time I got to the 30th box the number was over half a billion. At first appearance it doesn’t seem that continually doubling the 30 squares would add to such a high number. Expansion and acceleration use the same logic. It does not appear that building your illuminated players and connection chain will increase to uncountable numbers, but now you see the logic is simple.
This exponential expansion is what happens when you go through all of the stages of planning. Some areas will expand faster than others, because of where you are in life, the nature of your initiatives, and to whom you are delegating. If you create new visionaries, they’re going to have initiatives and delegating, and results will follow. How many of those can you create, five, six, ten, maybe 30? If you’ve created ten, then aren’t those ten going through the same stages and creating one, two, or five more? Soon you are getting cubed results of your original creation, which can be multiplied by a higher power. It doesn’t take that many visionary creations to get to millions or even billions, though it does take a little time. The interesting thing is that the new visionaries are not the same. They are going to do something different. Will they do something less effective? Yes. Will they do something foolish? Probably, but they will also manufacture some new major effective points. Your leadership requires you to stay focused on your vision publicly and to communicate and share so that these improvements can get you to your definable intention. While this process continues it gets bigger and better, and that is part of the exponential expansion.
Integration means maximizing the valuation and flow of all the energy that you are creating. It is a massive improvement of efficiency. Most of the values, whether profit or equity, are already there. Learning to capture these categorical values through integration means that you will also capture a bigger slice of the future.
To picture this, imagine you put your hand in your pocket and you have some quarters. You put your hand in your other pocket and you have some smaller change. Then you put your hand in your back pocket and there are single and five-dollar bills. In your last pocket, you find hundred dollar bills. Most people do not have their hands in all of the pockets that they are controlling. They are used to settling for having their hand in any pocket.
Integration is a form of a pipeline. In a company that sells pizza, pizza sales are the valuation. However, if the company decides to have a brand name like The Pizza Box then the name can have value based on the success of the pizza. They can also take the pizza, freeze it, and sell it in grocery stores. The company can also decide to make their own cheese, grow their own tomatoes, and manufacture their own boxes. They are taking it to the next level by creating this pipeline of value.
Most companies don’t realize the equity and profit that exists. That is improved by efficiency. It is also improved by increasing the awareness of all your team to look out for ways to capture the equity and profit. Needless to say, most businesses should be in the expansion mode and consequently capture more of the business that is in the field.
Let’s say your company makes envelopes and you know you have to ship them in a box, why not manufacture and sell the boxes too? It applies to almost every form of business around. I am not saying to be massively multi-dimensional, but I am saying that there are direct correlations to increase your profit and equity. The more you integrate, the more you are guaranteeing a bigger margin of result. Integration is simply another avenue to connect others with your vision.
In every stage of vision you must start with the definable intention. In order to gather energy you have to start bringing people into the picture. If I am integrating 10 people into my energy field I will start by identifying what I want from each of them. Perhaps I want four new leads, four ideas, and two opinions. I am trying to get them to actively comment and subsequently they become connected and committed to my vision. I am not sure which comments are coming from which person, but I do know that I have identified that I want four leads, four ideas and two opinions. If I am not getting that then I have not integrated properly. You have to define it as an important project, identify the end result, and let them know you need their expertise to play a role in taking the journey. Make it enjoyable for them. Without their expertise, you will not make it there as safely, strongly and as powerfully. Now you have given them respect and illuminated their input. You have stimulated their activity toward the vision even if it is not the end result. It is still stirring the pot, but now with a definable intention.
If you were to invest $100,000 over the next four years, wouldn’t you expect to get a return on your investment at the end of the four years? If you didn’t get a return on your investment wouldn’t you be upset and want your $100,000 back? What if you couldn’t get your $100,000 back? Would you be furious?
Now ask yourself, what is more important, your time or your money? The answer is clearly your time. When you run out of time it doesn’t matter how much money you have. If your time is so important, after four years don’t you want to get the investment on your time and what you wanted for your time? So if four years go by and you don’t have what you wanted, then something went wrong or you have inappropriately invested your time. Then yes, you should be furious. You can always get the money back, but you can never get your time back. The reason we inappropriately invest our time is because we don’t have a vision. Vision magnifies the investment of your time, the result, gratification, and the numerous fulfilling points that the element of time possesses. You have won the day; you have extracted creation from your time, and made your existence worthwhile.
